Commentary: It Is Now and We Need to Unite as One Profession and Drive the Data Structures for the Future.

Abstract

When I read Nagle and White's (2025) challenge to the nursing profession, "it really is now or never," I had to reflect on my previous interactions with the authors and how I came to know the Health Outcomes for Better Information and Care (HOBIC) initiative in the early 2000s and why we must respond to their call for action. In 1999, the HOBIC initiative was launched by leaders, Lynn Nagle, Peggy White and Dorothy Pringle, to address gaps in health information representing nursing's contributions to patient care and the need for the inclusion of standardized clinical data in electronic health records (funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care) and HOBIC expanded nationally. On behalf of the Canadian Nurses Association, we applaud the authors for their unrelenting advocacy, thought leadership, research contributions and strategic foresight, especially now with technological advancements and artificial intelligence (AI) integration occurring at breakneck speed. As knowledge workers, we need to ensure that our intelligence and impact are represented in the data, and we need every nurse across Canada to embrace this imperative. The risks associated with not doing this are too serious for the people we serve and the health of Canadians.